


Mostly Empty

by keeponsmilingg



Category: Degrassi, Degrassi the Next Generation
Genre: F/M, Maybell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-06
Updated: 2012-08-06
Packaged: 2017-11-11 14:17:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/479405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keeponsmilingg/pseuds/keeponsmilingg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Campbell Saunders is on the fast track to losing who he is. With a crushing weight on his lungs, and feeling more alone than ever, it's Maya Matlin that comes through and helps him breathe easy for the first time since transferring to Degrassi.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mostly Empty

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first time writing for the Degrassi Fandom, though I've been a fan for half my life. Cam and Maya have recently inspired me :) I think they are the cutest thing to hit Degrassi in a long while, and their relationship is so refreshing. Note that since we don't know a ton about Cam's background, I had to let my imagination wonder. Hopefully you enjoy this little one-shot of mine!

Back home, he had a place in this world. He knew who his friends were, and his parents were right down the hall when needed. Carly, his 10 month-old baby sister kept him smiling after a long day of practice. His older twin brothers, Chris and Cal, kept him on his toes but were supportive at the same time.

At home, Cam Saunders had a place in this world, but at Degrassi, he was just fighting for a chance.

He'd been approached by a scout from the Toronto Ice Hounds during the fall of his sophomore year. His coach approached him with a smiling face in the hallway one day, telling him that his parents were on the way to the school for a conference.

The meeting was a flash. He couldn't believe Ricky Jones was in Maine, scouting him out for his hockey team. Cam played for the Gretna Express his freshman year, and sure they'd won every game, but he didn't know anyone had been paying attention. If you weren't sporting a football or basketball jersey, you might as well been invisible. And Cam was okay with that. He was able to play sports, and stay under the radar simultaneously.

Hockey was just a sport then. Something he'd been doing for all his life—it was fun and he loved being on the ice. He was hoping he'd be able to try out for the Varsity Basketball team that fall though, but Ricky Jones had other plans for Cam. After that meeting, Coach Jones assured that hockey wasn't going to be just a sport, anymore.

Even with contracts signed, and promises that he would call every night, Cam couldn't believe what was happening to him until his flight landed in Toronto. His parents had been more supportive and enthusiastic than scared, so that helped him with the nerves. It wasn't until his host family, the Clarks, embraced him with open arms that he realized he wouldn't be seeing his real family for a while.

It wasn't until he got settled into his new room that he felt out of place. And it wasn't until he walked the halls of Degrassi Community School the next day that he knew his life had changed without him knowing.

He'd been practicing with the Ice Hounds since getting signed. The team paid for his weekend flights, which took the strain from his parents money wise, but not emotionally. Cam missed his parents every weekend too, but nothing had compared to this hollow feeling.

His teammates were fun...at times. He'd hoped that he would be able to bond with some of them, seeing as that a lot of them were moving away from home. They were good guys, when they wanted to be, but Cam quickly realized how much they were buying into their new roles. At Gretna, hockey games meant nothing, but here in Canada, they were televised. Hockey was a big deal.

All the while getting used to a new country (Celsius was not his friend, and neither was much of the food choices), Cam was soon realizing that it wasn't just hockey, but to the eyes of Degrassi, he was a big deal too.

He wasn't Cam anymore, but Campbell Saunders, "Hockey Prodigy." Girls stared at him as he went from class to class, and guys sometimes even nodded his way. Some teachers were overly nice, and he rarely had to pay for lunch. If the team was badgering someone, well he had to go along with it. Not that he wanted to, but it was more of a respectful gesture. He also didn't want to get smashed into a locker.

The new lifestyle made him uncomfortable, and honestly, Cam never prepared for any of it.

If he hadn't felt alone enough, his teammates soon made it a point to rag on him, as well. He was often confused by Dallas, the team captain. One minute he reminded Cam of his older brothers, but the next, he was finding a way to make him look like the biggest idiot. The incident with Bianca in the mall was the last crack, and even with some choice words of encouragement from the senior girl, Cam was certain that he didn't have one true friend on that team.

Slowly, the pressure was building, and it was hard to keep his head up. While his mom encouraged him to see things as Half Full, he could only describe this experience as Mostly Empty.

His team didn't respect him, so it seemed, and he could barely make a friend. Not one person took the time to really see Cam. They were only interested in his impending NHL offers, which he could definitely go without hearing about. There were times where Cam could barely breathe. As if he was stuck under water, or had a heavy weight crushing down on his lungs, he wasn't sure if he could make it out alive. With every day he was away from Maine, with every day he was being forced to be someone he wasn't, the weight kept crushing harder and faster. If he gave up now, the pain and stress could all melt away...

It was with a flash of blond hair that pulled him out of the water, relieving his lungs from any stress. But yet, he was still damaged. He was so far from where he'd come from, that he was hesitant to trust again.

Guarded, and walls high, he didn't know if he could befriend Maya Matlin. She'd blindsided him before, which hurt tremendously. But now he was searching for a second chance, hoping that he hadn't turned her away forever.

Her genuine smile helped confirm that she was unlike the Degrassi girls who were simply concerned with his status. She had a real passion for music, stood by her friends, and...she couldn't give a damn about hockey.

Asking her on a date was an impulse thing, but he was surely glad when she agreed so. He was nervous out of his mind too, so when her sister accompanied their date, that weight fell back down on him. It was tough to breathe again, but with Maya by his side, the air was a bit lighter.

He wanted to bang his head against the wall several times throughout the night, especially when he denied her kiss, hating that his nerves had gotten the best of him. He was fearless on the ice, but Maya Matlin was the scariest thing he had encountered since being at Degrassi. Luckily, she was the sweetest too.

Or so, he had hoped for.

After their failed date, he had hoped for a chance to redeem himself, but Maya had a shift in her ways that made Cam rethink his feelings. She wasn't his Maya anymore, but someone who was super flirty, weird, and asked him about...hockey?

His heart fell to his stomach as he finally accepted that he was truly alone, and that at Degrassi, he wouldn't have a place in this world. They'd already created one for him.

The French Class Horror Incident sent Cam over the edge, and as he inched back into his seat as far possible, he begged for a do-over. He begged to have a chance to go back and tell Coach Jones that he was too young to leave his family, and that he didn't want Hockey to be his life. He wanted to take the next plane back to Gretna, Maine, and never see a hockey puck again. He wanted to take back the faith be had in whatever he was doing with Maya, because the hurt of it all was too much. He just wanted it all to be over.

Soon though, he'd feel like a bigger idiot than Dallas had ever achieved to do so. He wanted so badly to be upset with Maya, but as she confessed just how much she liked him, he found that task so much more difficult than he sought.

The Skype session he had with his brothers after practice was killer to get through, as the teasing wouldn't stop. But he knew that their jokes came from a place of love, and not jealousy. He could trust Chris and Cal, and though he was sure he blew it with her, he took their advice anyway.

It took some convincing to get through Katie, but Cam was glad the raven-haired girl actually listened to him. As he made his way to Maya's practice room, he felt the goosebumps while the music filled his ears. A smile tugged against his lips as he watched his favorite cellist.

With bow in hand, Maya became one with her instrument, blocking out everything in the world. Cam couldn't dare interrupt such beauty. He stood there quietly, feeling like he had stepped in on such an intimate moment.

The glides of the bow on the string reminded him of the way his skates impacted the ice. Though a rough sport, hockey had a beauty to it. A beauty that Cam hadn't felt in so long. Watching her play, and listening to the sounds she made inspired him to search again for what was missing. He had a love for his sport before, he had fun. Maya made him want to do better, and try harder to find his place here. After all, she'd opened up a clearing for him in the first place.

The grade nine was shocked to see him standing there, and although Cam's heart pounded faster, the girl in front of him gave him the strength to go forward. Not caring if he sounded dumb, he admitted to not knowing what the heck he was doing either. He never once had a girlfriend before, but he was hoping Maya would be his first.

Describing their kiss was impossible, as Cam had no words for the best moment he'd had since getting off his flight just last month. Her eyes rested on his, and his lungs rested easy. Maya Matlin had been his saving grace, and he hoped she wanted him as much as Cam did her.

The glass was way more than half empty now, but almost full.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! Comments and reviews are greatly appreciated. I would love to write more for Maybell in the future, if you'll have me :)


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